Women’s clothing brand Smythe is marking a key milestone in a significant way with the launch of a new campaign to coincide with the opening of its first brick-and-mortar location.

The campaign, “Story of Firsts,” was created by longtime agency partner Open and showcases the long journey that Smythe has been on since it launched in 2004 as a company with a single mission: to perfect the woman’s blazer. Now, the brand sells not only blazers – including some sported by the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton – but a full collection.

“Smythe was originally a jackets-only brand. Christie Smythe and Andrea Lenczner, the founders and co-designers, originally set out to make the ultimate jacket using traditional men’s tailoring thinking and technique,” explains Martin Beauvais, partner at Open. “It has been evolving through a series of initiatives into a full collection, and these ‘firsts’ were very important to the designers and the evolution of Smythe – emotional, even.”

Smythe – previously available through its own ecommerce platform and in retailers like Nordstrom – is preparing to open its first store in Toronto’s Summerhill neighbourhood. To celebrate this – and let its dedicated clientele know – it looking at the other “firsts” that got it here: its first jacket design, its first full collection, its first online community and its first brand collaboration (with Augden, which employs Indigenous Incans to hand-knit its design using traditional methods).

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“Smythe is well-known and well loved by its audience, and some of their clients know them personally and have that connection with them. They know these ‘fits’ and easily relate to the story,” says Beauvais. “Smythe has a very good presence online and very loyal followers. Telling them there is now a brick-and-mortar place for them to experience the brand and get their Smythe fix was definitely the right move.”

The campaign is running almost entirely on social, where the brand has a strong audience. It consists of a 60-second video with three different 10-second cutdowns, as well as a carousel of still images that have been promoted across Smythe’s social channels – primarily Instagram and Facebook.

The video will also be available on Smythe’s YouTube channel indefinitely, and was shared via the brand’s client and fan mailing list in a marketing email that coincided with its launch on Mar. 3.